Fifty years ago, the number of frum people who sought help from a mental health professional was miniscule; today, there are thousands of frum mental health professionals, and many within the community do reach out for help through therapy. But that’s not the only change our community has seen in this area.
Four individuals with long and broad experience in addressing the Orthodox world’s mental health needs met recently with Mishpacha for a frank discussion of the changes in this field in recent decades

There are no shortcuts when it comes to climbing ladders, whether they are painter’s ladders or political ones. Dean Skelos has scaled both types — rung by rung — en route to his present position as New York state senate majority leader. In an exclusive interview in his district office in Rockville Centre, Long Island, Senator Skelos made it clear that he wouldn’t have had it any other way

Homegrown on German soil, Rabbi Yitzchak Mendel Wagner was moved to study Torah by a call from deep in his neshamah. But he never dreamed that one day he would serve as rav in his hometown of Krefeld. Two years ago, he and his congregation marked a turning point when they lit a Chanukah menorah on the site of the old shul that was burned down on Kristallnacht.

They came from different worlds, but they speak a common language. Rav Yankel Thumim, Boro Park’s Alshtadter Rav, and his rebbetzin, the only daughter of the first Bostoner Rebbe, share a lifetime of memories about their illustrious families and the chassidishe path that they have been zocheh to help preserve on American soil.